I Need to Take a Deep Breath

The last several days have been a whirlwind.  A fun one, but still a whirlwind.

As I previously mentioned, Froggy and her daughter (KN#3) arrived last Thursday from TEXAS.  We shopped.  We shopped a lot.  A LOT.  But, I don't think we shopped as much this time as we have on previous visits.  But, it was still a lot of shopping.  We had a lot of fun, we visited a bunch and we also went to Woolaroc which was really fun.  This time, the buffalo was actually working - the buffalo is a mechanical contraption that eats trash.  It's a metal buffalo that is covered with an authentic buffalo skin and it has a hole where the mouth would be.  If you hold your trash (small amounts) underneath the mouth, it is pulled up into the mouth.  (The buffalo's rear is against a wall, behind the wall is where the trash winds up so it's at least somewhat anatomically correct!)

Yesterday, we went to another local landmark:

Also known as the Praying Hands.  Unofficially, it's also called the founder of the university's monument to himself.  This is on the ORU campus and really is something to see.  It is supposed to look like a pair of praying hands, but up close it looks like a pair of grabbing hands.

This morning, Froggy and KN#3 left.  They flew in to Oklahoma City and rented a car.  They saw a couple of things in the OKC area and then drove to us.  They had reservations for a 3:30 flight back to Houston, but as of tonight they are still in the OKC area.  The Houston airport closed to all incoming flights due to Tropical Storm Bill.  They got a hotel for the night and will hopefully be able to fly out tomorrow - but TS Bill will be here tonight/tomorrow and there is a good chance that all flights out of OKC may be cancelled, so they may be staying another night too!  Froggy, you probably should have flown into OKC and then out from Tulsa.  That way, you could have come back to our house for the night.  Maggie Moo misses you.  By the way, Bill is very happy that there is a storm named after him although I think he'd prefer that it be an actual hurricane.  :)

At least I have a short week, 4 days.  Last week was a 4-day week as well, I took of Friday of last week and then yesterday (Monday) for their visit.  I work 5 days next week, then I'm off the next week and will be having a home vacation.

Which may well be spent dealing with the idiotic electric company.  My yard is still a big mess.  I filed an official complaint with them a few weeks ago and they still have not finished my yard.  They said that someone would contact me about coming out to look at the damage and THEN, after that, they would schedule the repairs to my yard.  One day last week, after I'd left for work, I got a call from the foreman of the crew who was wanting to come to my house and replace the grass - they hadn't even sent anyone out to look yet.  And it's more than just the grass.  I told him that I was expecting someone to come out and look at my yard first, and he said for me to call him after the representative made it out.  Then Friday afternoon there was a note on my door from another grass replacement crew informing me that they had attempted to get in my yard and were unable since the gate was locked - and that they would try again on Monday.  I called the number on the note and told them the story.  Today, I called the complaint department phone number (a local number) and was transferred to OHIO.  Needless to say, he was unable to help me.  He was nice, but there was nothing he could do - although I did tell him on record that if I had any choice at all in the matter, I would no longer use their services.  He gave me a different phone number to call and I eventually got to talk to a local person - and she told me that according to their records the complaint was finished and they'd done all the work already.  Not hardly!  She made a couple of calls and I now have an appointment with an inspector,he'll be out at my house on a specific day next week to look at the damage because they keep thinking it's just a small spot and I also have to call her tomorrow with the information on the crepe myrtles that were destroyed (both the number and variety.)  Frustrating in the extreme!

But I did mean the part about not using their service any longer if we had a choice.  One night last week, the power went out about 11:00 p.m.  It was the entire neighborhood.  I called the service number, the recording is supposed to be for the local area but I heard all about the power outages in the New Orleans area and then I held for 20 minutes.  I disconnected and re-dialed - only to get a message about a storm causing an outage in Appalachia!  And I held for nearly 40 minutes - then I remembered the battery operated radio.  At midnight, the news break talked about a power outage in my area due to a car hitting a pole.  I disconnected the phone at that point and went to bed - just in time for the power to come back on.

What ever happened to customer service?  Because it sure doesn't exist at the local electric company!